Courtesy of the National Association of People With AIDS and the blog From Here To Eternity (www.dgsmith.org) is a map of the states that contain the 2,357 HIV positive Americans who are still on ADAP waiting lists and still with medication:

Still Waiting

If you were to do a Sesame Street inspired lesson on which US states were the most impoverished, you could do a lot worse than this map. It is not mere coincidence that the four of of the ten poorest states in the union (according to 24/7 Wall Street) are also still represented on ADAP waiting lists (North Carolina ranked #10, Alabama #9, Montana #6 and Lousiana #5). And, with all due respect to the 16 people on waiting lists out West and the 137 Nebraskans going without HIV medication, this appears to have become a distinctly Southern issue at the present. And, even though Mississippi found a way to provide all of its wait-listed citizens with medication, it is small consolation when coupled with the fact that they are categorically the poorest state in the country, with a poverty rate of over 21%. Things aren’t looking great south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Categories: HIV News, Social Justice

Tags: ADAP, ADAP waiting lists, Alabama, dgsmith.org, Florida, Georgia, HIV, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, NAPWA, Nebraska, North Carolina, poverty, The South, Virginia